Choosing the Right Summits with Elli Runkles

Jenn: 00:00:03

Welcome to Virtual Summit Success.

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I'm Jenn, founder of Virtual Summit Search, and you're in the right place

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if you want to make the most of your virtual summit experience, whether

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you're a host or virtual summit speaker.

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Let's get going with your next step to virtual summit success.

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This is a snippet from a presentation from Sell With a Summit: Speaker Edition.

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Elli and I are talking about how to choose the right summits for you,

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because this is a question that I get asked a lot at Virtual Summit Search.

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We're covering practical and mindful ways to make sure the summits you speak at are

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in alignment with you and your business.

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Let's just jump straight in!

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It does not have to be difficult to decide which summits to say a resounding YES to.

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If you're struggling with picking summits that light you up and get

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you results, then you're in the right place, because in this session,

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we're going to talk about choosing summits that align with your values.

I'm Jenn, host of Sell With a Summit:

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Speaker Edition, and I'm so excited

I'm Jenn, host of Sell With a Summit:

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to introduce you to the wonderful Elli Runkles, founder of the CEO lounge and

I'm Jenn, host of Sell With a Summit:

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a Dare to Lead trained business coach.

I'm Jenn, host of Sell With a Summit:

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Thank you so much for being here, Elli.

Elli Runkles: 00:01:03

Yeah.

Elli Runkles: 00:01:04

Thank you.

Elli Runkles: 00:01:04

I'm so excited to talk about this topic with your audience today.

Jenn: 00:01:07

Yeah, it is so important.

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I get so many questions about choosing the right summits because

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it's so hard to figure out which ones are going to be a fit for you, for

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your business, for your audience.

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So before we dive into all the details about choosing the summit

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that aligns with your values, can you give us kind of a quick overview

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of your philosophy around it?

Elli Runkles: 00:01:25

Yeah.

Elli Runkles: 00:01:26

So I will say there are kind of two parts to this question.

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One is choosing summits that are aligned with your business as a whole and

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your goals as a whole, as a business.

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And then also your sort of guiding values that are what I like to think of as like

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the foundational principles that guide all of your decisions in your business.

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And so there are two layers, I think, to this question.

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And the first I always, of course, like to start with values by thinking

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about what are the guiding principles?

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To me, that's what values are, is the guiding principles that are

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just the filter that you use for making decisions in your business.

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And so the first thing is being really clear on what those values

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are like what are those kind of non-negotiable things that you really

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want to embody through your business.

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'Cause values, a lot of times we can think of values like you may have done

Elli Runkles: 00:02:12

values exercises where you look at a list of words and then pick out the

Elli Runkles: 00:02:15

words that aligned with your values.

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And that can be a good place to start.

Elli Runkles: 00:02:19

I like to think about values more as...

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what I encourage my clients to do is establish what I call a purpose statement

Elli Runkles: 00:02:25

for your business that is like the overall overarching guiding principle

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for how you make all of your business decisions and really it comes down to

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what is the contribution you want to make in the world through your business?

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What greater impact do you want to have?

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And that is a good place to start in terms of filtering the decisions that you make.

So I can share, just to give an example:

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my purpose statement is, "I want to

So I can share, just to give an example:

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contribute to the advancement of women and marginalized people's economic

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power through entrepreneurship."

So I can share, just to give an example:

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And so for me, every decision I make is this going to help women and marginalized

So I can share, just to give an example:

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people grow their businesses, grow their impact through entrepreneurship.

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And so that is where I start.

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And so by getting clear on more than just, "I value efficiency or I value

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courage or I value, curiosity," those kinds of things, but having a really

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clear core statement of 'this is what I'm about and what I'm trying to do in the

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world' is a really good place to start.

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And then from there, that's like the first filter to look at things through, but

So I can share, just to give an example:

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then also you can think about what are my long- or short-term goals in the business?

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Who am I really trying to reach?

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What am I trying to do in more of a practical, pragmatic business sense, and

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use that as like the secondary filter once you decide, "okay, yes, it does align

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with my values; now, does it make business sense for me to make this decision?"

Jenn: 00:03:40

Yeah, that makes so much sense.

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And I really love that lens of looking at it from that purpose

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statement, 'cause that's something a lot of folks don't talk about.

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Like you said, we've all gone through that list of the different words and

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it's great, that helps inform that, but then you can take those and turn it into

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something that you can actually use.

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So I love that.

Elli Runkles: 00:03:59

Awesome.

Jenn: 00:03:59

So I've seen summit speakers say yes to summits that didn't really align

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with them, their audience and expertise, or like you said, their business goals.

Jenn: 00:04:06

So why do you feel it's so important to make sure that there is that alignment,

Jenn: 00:04:10

especially with that purpose statement?

Elli Runkles: 00:04:13

Yeah, so a couple of things.

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I think one is, I think the reason that people often make those

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decisions to say yes to a summit that really is not a great fit.

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I think so often those decisions are based out of scarcity and based out of, "if

Elli Runkles: 00:04:31

I don't say yes to this, nobody's ever going to invite me to a summit again."

Elli Runkles: 00:04:34

Or " I need to say yes to this because I need clients," right?

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I need my business to grow, I need people to come in, and so I'm going to say yes

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to this to get in front of an audience.

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And this whole idea of scarcity, I'm pretty pragmatic.

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And when it comes to making businesses and sometimes it is okay

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to make a decision on a scarcity.

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I don't want to say if you're making decisions out of scarcity, you're not

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living your best life and all of that.

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Like, it's okay sometimes, sometimes you have to take on a client that is

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not a hundred percent aligned because you've gotta pay the bills, right?

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But when it comes to summits, summits are really more of a

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long-term strategy for your business.

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If you say yes to summit, usually you're saying yes several months before

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the summit's even going to happen, and then there's a lot of work that

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goes into making that summit happen.

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And then there's no guarantee that it's going to lead to a

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monetary result right away.

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It absolutely is going to impact your business.

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I've spoken at several summits and they are such a good strategy for

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growing your business long-term, but when it comes to those short-term

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decisions, it's really not going to have a really quick short-term impact.

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And so I think that is something to think about first off is, I don't have

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to make this decision from scarcity because like it's a long-term thing.

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And so it needs to align with my long-term -business goals and where I'm going and

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what I want to be doing with my business.

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And then another thing to think about too is if you're saying yes to something

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and this applies in anything, not just with summits, but if you're saying yes to

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something that you really don't want to do, like, you just have this gut feeling

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for whatever reason - whether it's because it doesn't like align with your values or

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it doesn't make sense with your business goals or it's just a busy time for you

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that you know you've got other priorities - whatever the reason is, if you say yes

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to something that you really want to say no to it, it leads to resentment.

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You are going to resent that decision.

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And when you're doing something out of resentment, even if it's like

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an underlying thing that you're not even fully aware that you're

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resenting, it just doesn't lead to good results for anybody involved.

Elli Runkles: 00:06:28

It's going to distract you from other things like that really are your big

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priorities that do align with your values.

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And then ultimately, as a summit speaker, it's typically doesn't lead

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to great results for anybody else involved either because you're resenting

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the fact that you have to record this presentation in the first place.

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You're resenting that like, maybe the audience isn't that aligned with who you

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really want to attract, and so you're feeling resentful because you're thinking,

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is this even going to be worth it?

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Is this going to even lead to results?

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And so ultimately the experience doesn't feel good for you, and then also it

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doesn't lead to great results for the audience, for the speaker, for the host.

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And so it doesn't work in the longrun, even if you're saying yes,

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because like you feel bad to say no.

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I promise you the host of that summit would rather you say no to something

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that isn't a good fit for you than to say yes because you feel guilty or you

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feel bad and then not end up following through, which is just our nature.

Elli Runkles: 00:07:20

You may say yes with even the very best intentions that you're going to show

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up, even though you don't really want to but it just sort of falls apart.

Jenn: 00:07:27

Yeah.

Jenn: 00:07:28

I fully concur on the host would rather you say no than to show up lackluster.

Jenn: 00:07:34

'Cause I've had folks do that and it sucks like, either they've ghosted at

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the last minute and then you have a spot that you have to fill - or you have

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to just leave it empty - and/or they don't promote and they don't engage and

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you're just like, "well, that was...

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cool?"

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So don't feel bad to say no!

Elli Runkles: 00:07:57

Better for everybody if you say no to things you want to say no to.

Jenn: 00:08:00

Yeah.

Jenn: 00:08:01

So thank you for covering that; I'm so glad you said that.

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And actually let's cover some

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so what is a specific action step that someone can take right after they've

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finished watching this to start making more aligned summit speaking decisions,

Jenn: 00:08:13

and maybe even find more of those summits that align with their values?

Elli Runkles: 00:08:17

Yeah.

Elli Runkles: 00:08:18

So I would say, very first thing, if you haven't done this already,

Elli Runkles: 00:08:21

is do the work to really get clear on what are your values.

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If that purpose statement that I shared is helpful for you, absolutely take

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that and try and think about "what is that bigger purpose or contribution

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that I want to make for my business?"

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And then once you've gotten clear on that, I would say the best next step is to start

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seeking out connections and building a network of other, not even necessarily

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summit hosts or people who've spoken at summits, but just people who are in your

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sphere, in your industry, who align with those values and starting to make as many

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connections as you can, but specifically being intentional about people who are on

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a similar mission to you, or have similar goals, like values-aligned goals as you.

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And as you start making those connections and building that network, just make it

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known that you want to speak at summits.

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Just make that something that you casually bring into conversations or

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maybe even not so casually, just say, " I'm really interested in doing this.

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Have you ever spoken at a summit?

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What was the experience like, or do you know of anybody who hosts summits?"

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Just bringing it up in conversation.

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And if you start doing that while at the same time being intentional about

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who you're building a network of people around, you're making those connections

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with people who align with your values, then opportunities are just going to come.

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It's not something that happens overnight, but as you intentionally

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start building out your network those opportunities will come.

Elli Runkles: 00:09:39

So that's what I would recommend doing if that's a goal that you have.

Jenn: 00:09:42

Yeah.

Jenn: 00:09:42

And the purpose statement, I definitely agree has gotta be the

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first step before you go into any of the other stuff we talked about,

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'cause that's going to be a huge way to inform what summits are gonna fit.

Jenn: 00:09:52

And so I know you talked a little bit about the journal prompts before.

Jenn: 00:09:55

Is there anything else you want to share with folks before we wrap things up?

Elli Runkles: 00:10:00

Yeah.

Elli Runkles: 00:10:00

So these journal prompts you can grab, it's just a set of 10 questions that

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you can use to guide your thinking.

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And if you're a journaler, that's great, use them to journal out on,

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but you can also just use them as a guide to guide your thinking as you

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think about whether or not a summit opportunity is a good fit for you.

Elli Runkles: 00:10:18

And that's basically it, it just will guide you through that process.

Elli Runkles: 00:10:22

And then also there's some tips in there about how to say yes or how to say no,

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like, once you've come to that decision, it's, "okay, now what's my next step?

Elli Runkles: 00:10:30

How am I gonna move forward with saying yes, or if I am going to

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say no, how can I do that in a way that still aligns with my values?"

Elli Runkles: 00:10:37

So that's what you can find in this journal prompts.

Jenn: 00:10:39

Awesome.

Jenn: 00:10:39

I love that you included that, 'cause I know saying yes sometimes feels easy,

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but sometimes it isn't, but saying no is always really, really difficult

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for folks, so that be really helpful!

Elli Runkles: 00:10:50

Awesome.

Jenn: 00:10:51

Thank you so much for sharing all of this, Elli.

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I'm so excited to see everybody take more steps towards being more aligned

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with the summits that they speak at.

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And so if you haven't already, go start working on your purpose statement, and

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if you have any questions for Elli, I'm sure she would be happy to answer them.

Jenn: 00:11:08

So thank you again for being here, Elli!

Elli Runkles: 00:11:10

Yeah, absolutely.

Elli Runkles: 00:11:11

I'm happy to answer any questions that anybody has, for sure.

Jenn: 00:11:14

There were so many great techniques that Elli covered for choosing the

Jenn: 00:11:17

right summit, but we covered even more in her full presentation, like red

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flags to look for in summit invites and how to know when to follow your gut

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feelings, so you don't want to miss that.

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You can get free access to Elli's presentation and all of the other

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fantastic sessions we had at Sell With a Summit: Speaker Edition by going to

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sellwithasummit.com/speakeredition.

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I'd also love to hear what your biggest takeaway from this episode.

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Leave a review and let me and Elli know what you're going to implement in

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your summit speaking strategy when it comes to choosing the right summits.

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We can't wait to see you on those virtual stages!

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Thanks for listening to Virtual Summit Success.

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Don't forget to leave a review and let others know your biggest

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takeaways from this episode.

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Every review helps others find us, and the more successful virtual

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summits there are, the more tips we'll have to share with you.

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For show notes, links, and other resources, go to virtualsummitsuccess.live